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Sound track
Screen sounds Celebs too have given their voices to the animation characters. Shahrukh has done it for The Incredibles, Akshay Kumar for Jumbo and Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in Roadside Romeo took over the job.
Hands down! We loved the blabbering Bugs Bunny, prattling Power Rangers, nattering Noddy, chipping Chip n Dale, humble Harry Potter…Their every dialogue, giggle, snigger, squeal, we have loved it all so much. Imagine how it would have been if Minnie had no body to render voice to her lip sync while she said, 'I love you' to Micky Mouse or if Harry Potter couldn't explain the threats to Hogwarts in Hindi for the Indian audiences or if Alladin knew only Arabic? This 'dumb charades' wouldn't have made animation as entertaining an industry as it is today. All credit to the voiceover artistes who have made laughing, crying and talking of the animation characters possible.
Urvi Ashar, another voiceover artiste who has to her credit voiceovers of Naruto, Ninja Hattori and many more opines actors giving their voice to the animation characters is making their job popular, "There is nothing to worry about if Bollywood celebs are doing our job. It's a huge industry and there is work for everybody." A decade's experience in the industry and Samay Thakker still wants to carry on with voiceovers. The voice of Spiderman, Batman and Billy and Mandy in India, he feels no other job is as creative as this is, "Almost daily I produce a different voice for a different character and it's an interesting challenge. At times, it surprises me also to realise to what extent I can modulate my voice." Some art's there for sure! ashima@tribunemail.com |
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Voice of India
A terrorist about to blow up a building in a foreign land suddenly looks into the eyes of a child enjoying ice-cream and the realisation strikes – someone being killed here is like someone back home. The message is clear – a terrorist is, after all, human too. The effect may be the solution. This and a lot more describes the emotions behind Eyes of Silence, an animated short film that has intensity to stir you. The movie, conceptualised as a result of two people's passion to make a difference and bearing a testimony to the fact that Indian animation has come of age, is the ‘first’ Indian animated film to win five international awards and been invited to 11 international film festivals.
"The idea behind this film was to drive home the point that violence spawns violence and sanity prevails only when you pause and reflect the truth behind your actions. The concept we tried was unorthodox, with photorealistic animation," says Avi Sidhu, who along with Navneet Kinger, was the brain behind the film. The five minute animation took a year and a half to complete and has won the best animation award at the Rockport Film Festival, best drama and animation at the Firstglance Hollywood Film Festival, Award for Excellence in film
making at the Honolulu Film Festival and was screened at the Festival de Cannes this year under the Emerging
Filmmakers category. Engineers by profession and self taught animators, Avi and Navneet have their own firm Virtual Realms Productions. The duo did it all, from the concept, scripting to direction of the movie. "We kept a track of international concepts, documentaries, issues that made highlights globally. So, when we decided to work on this film, we wanted something that clicks to the international audience," says Avi. And when animation means huge money, Eyes of Silence was made on a microscopic budget on just two computers and their modus operandi, hit and trial. "We wanted to prove that if you have a good topic and the vision, you could achieve something that might not require a million dollar budget. If something wouldn't work out as desired we would try innovations till we got it right," he adds. Having already been screened in the US, France, Russia, Germany, Italy and Egypt and invites for four more, their ambitions to bring about a change in the animation industry has just grown with their success. "Indian animation is growing by gigantic proportions. After Hollywood, Bollywood too is opening up to animation in a big way, with almost nine animation projects lined up for the year. Cashing in on that we are planning to open an animation studio across the world. Currently we are working on a dream project, a photo realistic animated film based on Maharaja Ranjit Singh's life. Also, we are looking home wards, in talks with some of the Bollywood biggies for our next venture," Avi sums it up. lifestyle@tribunemail.com |
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A little bird told us…
But the beauty denied anything of this sort, confirming that someone was using her name by creating a fake account. This opens a chain of debate as to how easy it is to create a fake account on social networking site like Twitter? On the other hand Jaskaran Singh Khurana, a businessman, does not believe in the genuineness of any celebrity profiles. I doubt if any Bollywood or Hollywood star is twittering. “Do they have time to leave daily report of their daily schedule?” He adds, “Haven’t you heard about the fake profile incident of Laal Krushna Advani. So, you can bet that all those Shah Rukh Khan, Mallika Sherawat, Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor’s accounts on Twitter are fake.” Despite the fake identity issues, Twitter is catching up as the most convenient social networking site. And people are lapping up the tweets left by celebrities. Mallika Sherawat feed twitter.com/mallikaLA makes for an interesting read, where she tweets on her yoga to Farah gifting her a small Buddha and Ram Gopal Varma calling her Marilyn Monroe. Now, isn’t this fun, even if it is fake or not ethical. But what about imposing certain strict guidelines? Twitter collects personally identifiable information about its users and shares it with third parties. The service considers that information is an asset, and reserves the right to sell it if the company changes hand. Nitesh Dhanjani and Rujith reported security vulnerability on April 7, 2007. The problem was due to Twitter using the phone number of the sender of the SMS messages as authentication. Within a few weeks of this discovery, Twitter introduced an optional PIN that its users could specify to authentication SMS-originating messages. jasmine@tribunemail.com |
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GEEK SPEAK
The UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. A UPS is often called power protection, although it really protects your computer system but is not the only thing. Even buying a cheap power strip from your local retail outlet can be a huge mistake that could cost you thousands of rupees. It is worth spending a few hundred rupees or more to protect your investment rather then blaming your power cables. An uninterruptible power supply works by filtering the electrical power coming from power grid while storing a small amount in the battery. The more money you spend on an UPS, the more battery life you buy. For a standalone desktop system with one printer, you’ll want to buy a UPS that can give you at least 10 minutes to shut down properly and save your work if the power doesn’t come back within a minute. Larger systems with bigger power supplies or dual monitors will want to consider models with even larger batteries. If you have frequent power cuts in your area, you’ll also want to think about a UPS with a larger battery. So, before you buy a bigger monitor, or that second hard drive or any other external attachments, which you will be using regularly, consider purchasing a UPS system first which can handle the load and protect your computer, your data, and your
time. amitpalsinghgrewal@gmail.com Haute pick camcorder, It can perfectly content to shoot 720p footage and show it off on its 2.5-inch LCD, things really start to get wild when you notice that there’s a 640 x 360 Pico projector built right into this small little wonder. There is no word on price or when to expect this thing to show up in the market except “COMING SOON”. Sensor – 5.0 Mega Pixels Operation mode – Movie Record, Picture Record, Voice Record and Mass storage device Projector Resolution – Q720 Projector Lumiance – 8 Lux Video resolution – 1280 X 720 Frame rate – HD 72p @ 30 fps ~ 16:9 (default), WVGA : 848 X 480 @ 60 fps ~ 16:9, Web : 320 X 240 @ 30 fps ~ 4:3 External Memory – SD card slot (support
SDHC) LCD display – 2.5” LCD panel (960 X 240) Lens type – FF Digital zoom – 3X Battery – NP60 Rechargeable Li-ion battery |
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STAR SIGNS
You and I
U-tube is a lifeline to me. I watch all Muhaamad Ali punches on it. Not only this, I see just about every movie on boxing on the U-tube. People have posted such interesting videos on boxing that it is a delight to watch them. Web of information
I cannot imagine where we would have been without Internet. I look up the Internet regularly, which provides me every possible information. Anything on boxing that I need to know, the Internet helps me with it. Not only boxing, it exposes to a world of information. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that I connect with the rest of the world, which does not know me. Face off
Facebook and Orkut are some interesting interactive sites and I am part of it too. Again this is like a platform, which connects you to your friends and fans. I get regular posts from friends and fans giving me suggestions, and sometimes criticism. I also have a dedicated site, akhilkumarboxer.com, which provides a detailed information on me. Now, didn’t I say we have the best of technology at our disposal? Black to back
Blackberry is my recent purchase and I am amazed at its features. It has a good memory and I have more than 1000 songs in it, which I change pretty regularly. Not to forget, the facility of photocomposing. So much so, I don’t feel the need to carry a separate I-pod. It has everything in it. jasmine@tribunemail.com |
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Catwalk in my closet
Come summers and its not only clothes, make-up and hairstyle that changes but the most important fashion accessory—footwear too calls for a change. And when we talk of trend for a fashion-conscious city like ours, style certainly matters. A quick glance through the city shoe shops and we have a definite feet mantra that certainly matches the style on the red carpet, especially the recent Cannes gala, but mind you when it comes to spending dough, our city stuff is definitely easy on the pocket in comparison to the foreign foot fashion.
Right from the all-so-famous peep toes with pump heels to multi strap sandals to gladiator sandals what’s available on the city shoe shelves has a stark resemblance to the celebrity footwear, especially the ones they wore to the Cannes Film Festival or the MYV Movie Awards. Here’s what we found. Right from square toes to geometrical prints the city shops are brimming with triple-buckles, caged sandals, bohemian fringes, tapered, platform and wedge heels that are almost same as what actors wore to the red carpet. At Sants-17, we found the gladiator sandals in varied hues. Available at and above Rs 800 these sandals surely called the shots. For colours it is definitely a riot of bright hues. From glossy reds to shiny pinks, metallic hues are certainly ruling the roost. But not to forget are the evergreen black, beige and white hues; they still top the A-list of shoe buyers and celebrities too. If you are looking for colours and style visit Drishti-17, here you will find every colour to match your dress. The footwear price range goes up from Rs 500. For chic style you must visit the Shoe Tree-17, here the price of casual shoes starts at Rs 600 and for formals be ready to spend more than Rs 1500. That’s not all Woodland too has some
dazzling designs. And price its worth the piece. Starting at Rs 2000 and above, the price range can go as high as Rs 5000. Well, concluding it we can comfortably say, all you fashion-conscious people take form and look out for that pair of sizzling stilettos you eyed that actor wearing, for the chances are that you’ll find a similar pair in the city. jigyasachimra@tribunemail.com |
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LAUNCH PAD
The upper is highly breathable, thanks to the use of air mesh. It also has inserts in reflective material to ensure optimal visibility for running in the dark. The choice of colours like white with blazing yellow, strong blue and the winning combination of white with black and red is extremely appealing. Los Angeles shoes are priced at Rs 3499. Sum it up
Men’s Summer Apparel includes a wide range of cotton shirts, t-shirts, denim bottoms and shorts. The cotton shirts are available in various summer fabrics like poplin, linen checks and stripes with a vast variety of color options and styles. Shirts are priced between Rs 1,195 and Rs 2395. T-shirts collection comprises of round neck and polo T-shirts with embroidered logo and chest print designs available for Rs 695 to Rs
1,595. Woodland has also introduced its fabulous collection of denim jeans for the summer. The denims are available in various styles starting from the basic five pockets design. With price starting from Rs 2195 to Rs 2695, these are available in various summer shades like ice blue to ash grey. The summer shorts are designed to provide extra comfort and are available in brushed twill checks, solid twills and canvas with rugged wash. Styled from basics to cargoes, the shorts are in bright checks to safari earthy colours. They are priced from Rs 2,195 to Rs 2,695 Say bye to tan
Lotus Herbals, India’s natural beauty care brand, has introduced India’s first innovative anti-tan scrub under its Safe Sun Absolute range. A skin lightening and exfoliating scrub, the scrub is ideal to remove any superficial tanning caused by the sun’s UV rays. An expert in sun protection and tan removal, Lotus Herbals had been flooded with consumer queries on how to remove immediate tanning caused by exposure to the sun’s UV rays? After a lot of research and development, Lotus Herbals has now successfully developed India’s first and only anti-tan scrub. This fantastic Anti-Tan Scrub cleans, exfoliates, polishes and removes superficial tanning and makes your skin radiant, soft and tan free. Go ahead and grab Lotus Herbals Anti-Tan scrub, a perfect recipe to perk up your dull and tanned skin. Priced attractively at Rs. 195/= for 100gms, Lotus Herbals Anti-Tan scrub is available at all leading beauty and department stores across
the country. — TNS |
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Key words
With the growing popularity of Indian music, courtesy musical shows on television channels, people now have started evincing more than a passing interest in learning music,” feels Saubhagya Vardhan Brahsapati, well-known classical vocalist and author. “So, to give an insight into the fundamental ingredients of music and the most popular music instrument, harmonium, I have sculpted this book for music aspirants,” he adds pointing at How to Play Harmonium. The book was released by kathak guru and registrar of the Pracheen Kala Kendra Shobha Koser on Monday at the Kendra’s Bhaskar Rao Auditorium. Holding a doctorate degree, Vardhan is the youngest son of renowned musicologist and scholar late Acharya K.C.D. Brahaspati and Vidushi Sulochana Brahaspati, eminent gurus of the Rampur Sadarang tradition. The book, third in the series, gives a thorough knowledge about harmonium and its different playing techniques. Vardhan has traced the history of this Western instrument and its arrival in India from Iran with development over the centuries. It provides easy methods and popular techniques to achieve the skill of playing this instrument. The book has a total 10 chapters: Introduction to harmonium, Use of harmonium, Techniques of harmonium playing, Beginning lessons, Voice lessons for beginners, Rhythm section of keyboard, Playing classical music and raga on harmonium, Practice tips of raga Bilawal Sargam, Tips for making music with MIDI and Repair and maintenance of harmonium. lifestyle@tribunemail.com
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All you students, programmers and technology enthusiasts out there, you have something really cool coming your way this summer. CodeChef, India’s first non-commercial, multi-platform online coding competition, brings to you the CodeChef Gamers Challenge which provides you with an excellent opportunity to not only be creative but also win prizes and be recognized by your peers. Individuals or groups of students, programmers and technology enthusiasts across the country are invited to design internet browser games. Participants can submit their entries on www.codechef.com till June 15. The winners will be announced on June 20. Participants can work in teams of three where they are entitled to submit multiple entries and update their programme as many times as they want. The games can be submitted on their client side browser game. The winners will be chosen based on how fun and engaging their games are. Some of the exciting prizes to be won are graphics card, gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, joystick and PC games. For further information on rules and guidelines for participation one can visit: http://www.codechef.com/MAYGAMER/ or write to feedback@codechef.com.
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The gal’s in Vogue
The actress who is also a supermodel visited Lima Peru, last month for a photo shoot for Vogue and Cosas Magazine. During her visit, the Om Shanti Om actress stayed at the presidential suite at the Miraflores Park Hotel, Lima. The suite’s previous occupants include Bill Clinton, Duran Duran and Tommy Hilfiger. “The presidential palace that I visited is to date one of the most stunning pieces of architecture I have come across, its beauty is indescribable. The warmth that the people of Peru gave me is something that I will always hold close to my heart,” Padukone said. “If you get this much respect as a stranger, I can imagine the care you get when you are their loved one. “Be it the Minister of Tourism whom I met at the Peru fashion show or a shopkeeper in the local market, everyone greeted me with so much of affectation that it fills me with gratitude even now,” the actor added. Deepika previously walked the ramp with international model Naomi Campbell at the Lakme Fashion week 2009 in Mumbai and also attended the Fashion Week Peruvian Moda as the guest of honour. — PTI
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Michelle Obama defied predictions of fashion experts after turning up in a $ 10 T-shirt and a $ 25 cardigan for a lunch with Former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The fashion icon, who has been sporting high-end lines like French designer Azzedine Alaia, wrapped herself in the affordable apparel offered by Gap. According to Mrs-O.org, a web site devoted to Obama’s style, the First Lady wore a striped T-shirt and a floral cardigan that was matched with a white, bouclé pencil skirt by designer Michael Kors, reports the New York Daily News. The mum-of-two, who has a line of dreamy-eyed designers waiting to dress her, has continued to add to her admirers with her fashion sense. The 45-year-old stunned the New York crowd last month after she braved the chilly weather in a purple wool and silk sheath, paired with a jacket from Isaac Mizrahi. She also made a chic appearance with a classic black sheath by Alaia for a night out on the town with her President-husband Barack Obama. — ANI
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She may not have mastered the art of eating a chocolate croissant yet, but Hollywood couple Tom Hanks and Katie Holmes’ three-year-old daughter Suri Cruise is already the world’s youngest fashionista. Mirror.co.uk reports that top designers are queuing up to dress the tot and she already has a wardrobe full of clobber from top brands like Burberry, Dior and Cavalli. She was recently also spotted wearing a Ralph Lauren Illyana dress and the fashion house frantically rushed out a statement confirming the fact. Suri has even had a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes custom-made after a mould was taken of her tiny feet and the little fashionista has already learned never to put a foot wrong in the style stakes. — IANS
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Too much tattoo
Model-turned-actress Megan Fox’s mother is against her plans to add another tattoo to her collection fearing it will jeopardise her career. Megan, who was seen in Transformers, has eight tattoos on her body and now she wants to cover her entire right arm with a tattoo sleeve. But her mother Darlene is asking her to reconsider fearing the body art will put off fimmakers and jeopardise her career, reported contactmusic.com. “She has never understood why her daughter would want to cover her gorgeous body with tattoos. After each new tattoo, Darlene pleaded with Megan not to get more. Darlene believes that when Megan is a 40-year-old woman wanting to play more mature roles, people won’t hire her because it will be too hard to cover her tattoos,” said a source close to Megan’s mother. — IANS
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American actor Eva LaRue has revealed that she finds former Friends star Jennifer Aniston’s body far better than Angelina Jolie’s. LaRue, 42, said that looking at the recent photographs of Aniston in a swimsuit, she found that the actor still has a great body. “Angelina hasn’t really been out in a swimsuit, but back in the day she was hot, hot, hot,” Fox News quoted her as saying at last week’s Lupus LA Orange Ball. “But I’m going to go with Jen (Aniston) because I’ve seen more pictures of her in a swimsuit recently and she looks just great,” she added. — ANI
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"It is a fun-filled profession. All of us sometimes want to be childlike, speak, sing, shout the way we want to without bothering about the world around. Doing voiceover for various animation characters gives me the liberty to do it," says Prachi Save, the voiceover artiste who has dubbed for over 200 characters in the Indian animation industry. Seventeen years into the profession, she has enjoyed every bit of it. Here's the confirmation, "I am the official voice of Minnie Mouse in India. I have dubbed for Dennis the Menace, Stuart Little, Vicky of Small Wonders, piglets in Tigger and Poo, Alice in Wonderland. I have also given voice over for George of Mummy Returns, Little boy in Sixth Sense and for kids in Chronicles of Narnia. Every assignment was a new experience, making me realise everytime how variedly I can modulate my voice." But she doesn't have to make any special efforts for the voice alteration. "After all these years, taking out a different voice for a character comes so naturally to me." In her twenties, she is already a veteran in the industry but regrets, "Nobody bothers to know who is the face behind the childlike voices. Even the credit of voiceovers in any cartoon series is not changed to ours." 
You might not know who's Rajesh Kava but then you won't ever forget his voice once the Harry Potter six hits the big screen. He'll be the voice of Hindi speaking Harry Potter of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. The job certainly wasn't easy; "I bought all the Harry Potter DVDs and studied them thoroughly for two weeks. The homework was important since Harry was shown grown up in the movie. I had to modulate my voice to suit Harry's personality and the vary pitches as per the his relation with other characters in the movie." His experience of the last five years in which he has done voiceovers for Beyblade, Power Rangers, Billy and Mandy and over 20 cartoon series would help him too. Rajesh is also doing voiceover for the villain of Karan Johar's forth coming animation flick, Kuchi Kuchi Hota Hai along with the voices of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol.
Move over Facebook and Orkut, Twitter is the ‘in thing’ amongst youngsters and celebrities as well. The latest Hollywood celebrity to be hooked to Twitter is none other than 77-year-old movie legend Elizabeth Taylor. Back home, the filmwallas too enjoy their stint with social networking site. Now, if you are a Shah Rukh Khan fan, then follow him on the twitter, for he regularly updates his profile on the site.
Nevertheless, like the ‘package technology deal’, some hiccups too mar this. The news posted by Aishwarya Rai (I am going to reveal a secret soon) who just pretended to be the superstar of Bollywood on Twitter by claiming himself/herself Aishwarya.
Mikhil Kapoor, an engineering student, strongly feels the need to create some laws, which could stop fake identities on Twitter. He sees Facebook as a safe bet still. “It is not a big deal to create a fake celebrity account on any of the social networking. However, on Facebook they still ask for a valid ID and gmail address. On Orkut and Twitter, it is simple to create a celebrity account.”
As technology advances, our dependence on electronic devices and machines such as computers increases. However, with more and more power cuts in urban cities, it is very important to install a UPS for back up. Frequent power cuts can result in damaging your system permanently. Many people do not realise the absolute importance of purchasing a UPS power supply for their system.
The UPS protects against electrical surges, spikes, and sags — the three major causes of death to all electronic equipment in India. With computers, not only could your motherboard be damaged by any of these three, but also your monitor, your speakers, microphones, printers, and any other powered accessories. A quality UPS will generally offer a guarantee against these types of damages. You’ll find these on power supplies by renowned companies like APC and a few other expensive ones. 
One of the more recent features in the UPS market is the addition of USB connectivity. By attaching your UPS to your computer via a standard USB cable and software, your computer will give you reports of activity on the power supply. You’ll be surprised to see how many times your UPS system protects your computer from harmful power spikes and surges. You’ll be grateful for the number of times the power drops for a few seconds and you are able to continue working on your task, saving time, and often, important data that you might not have saved yet. Nearly all UPS can be installed with an extra battery externally and then used as an inverter for using your computer for a short while with minimum load in case you are in a fix and don’t have a cyber café nearby. 
DigiLife’s new DDV-JF1 mini 
I don’t think I want to differentiate between the good and bad when it comes to technology. I am enjoying the best of it and honestly I have become quiet used to it,” says Akhil Kumar, Beijing Olympic’s quarterfinalist in boxing 2008. “We should try to use technology to the best of it without misusing it.” And when it comes to his choice, it’s his favourite U-tube all the way.
Lotto, the sports lifestyle brand, specialises in the production of sports footwear and clothing. Continuing its focus on running enthusiast of all age groups, Lotto has introduced the Los Angeles running shoe collection in the Indian market.
With temperatures soaring high, the heat is becoming unbearable. Woodland, the ‘with it’ brand for trendiest footwear and apparel, brings respite for its evergrowing clientele. It has introduced an eclectic range of summer clothing both for men and women to breeze through the summer.
The Indian skin is very prone to tanning and the new Anti-Tan scrub from Lotus Herbals is your perfect solution to getting rid of unwanted tan in a jiffy. Lotus Herbals Anti-Tan Scrub not only gives you the exfoliating properties of Strawberry seeds and Walnut shells but also has the wonderful benefits of turmeric, which helps in lightening the skin.
Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone has become the first Indian beauty to be on the cover of Latin America’s Vogue, Femalefirst reported.
